A Walnut Creek woman has bequeathed $56,000 to the Diablo Theatre Company.

Madeleine Neal died in January at the age of 79. He nephew, Fred Wedeberg, a financial planner in Washington, recently contacted the Diablo Theatre Company to tell its representatives of his aunt’s gift in her will.

“The arts were a wonderful part of her life,” Wedeberg said in a news release from the theater group. “She and her late husband enjoyed traveling extensively throughout the world, enjoying dining out and always including the arts, particularly musical theater, as part of their social activities.”

Neal was a retired executive secretary for Montgomery Ward.

The theater company’s board has not yet determined how the money will be used, said Gia Solari, the company’s producing director in a news release.

“It demonstrates that estate gifts are a wonderful way to ensure the continued success of the arts and particularly Diablo Theatre Company’s musical productions and Performing Arts Academy,” she said.